Romania’s outgoing centrist president, Klaus Iohannis, resigned on Monday as opposition hard-right parliamentary parties planned to have him impeached.
The European Union and NATO member state, which borders Ukraine, was plunged into institutional chaos last year when little-known far-right NATO critic Calin Georgescu won the first round of a presidential election.
After accusations of Russian interference – denied by Moscow – Romania’s top court voided the entire election.
With the two rounds of the election set to be re-run on May 4 and May 18, Romania’s top court had said Iohannis, whose second and last term expired on December 21, would stay on until his successor was elected.
But in January, three far-right opposition parties, which control around 35% of parliament seats, filed a motion to impeach Iohannis.
With the motion up for a vote, and Iohannis deeply unpopular, analysts have said some lawmakers from mainstream pro-European parties could give the hard-right’s impeachment effort the required majority.
“The request will have consequences both domestically and abroad,” Iohannis told reporters. “To spare Romania this pointless and negative crisis… I am resigning from the president’s office.”
Senate speaker Ilie Bolojan, head of the Liberal Party, a member of the ruling coalition, will take over as interim president with limited powers until the election.
The three hard-right groupings, whose support has risen since Georgescu’s surprise win, had used their campaign against Iohannis as a reason to stage protests and seize the political agenda.